Insane and Rising
by cydonic
Summary: Five pairs of shoes Pepper Potts never wore again thanks to Tony Stark.


Pepper Potts had always been the sort to exercise practicality. Throughout college she had worked a part-time job in a high end boutique, able only to oggle the expensive shoes women with more money than sense bought. She told herself that she did not need such luxuries in life, happy to work on getting a good career and a stable income. She would spend her surplus cash on ensuring her mortgage was paid off quicker, not on a pair of shoes that cost more than a semester's tuition.

And then they began to stock Louboutin's.

It was then that Pepper formed her obsession with shoes. They were stunning, and she could run her hands over the patent leather exteriors and feel no flaw. Inside the heels were padded, and on nights when she worked with a girl of similar age and similar financial status (being currently at the point where noodles were an acceptable dish morning, noon, and night, and public transport costs were pushing the bill) they would have impromptu fashion shows.

As soon as the Pigalle's were on her feet, Pepper knew that she had to have them. That is, when she had $600 to blow on a pair of pumps. And that was with staff discount.

It was her graduation present. Industrious as she was, Pepper justified her decision to herself. They were black patent, a timeless style that would go with anything. The first three days she owned the shoes she would simply stare at them in the box, unwilling to disturb their perfection. Any scuff or stain would have her sobbing for weeks.

She broke them in at her first interview at Stark Industries, and from then they became her good luck shoe. She was offered the job on the spot, a place in human resources. Pepper had a pair of cheaper pumps for day-to-day, but the Louboutin's were her special shoe. Company dinners, employee reviews - they bought her luck.

It was her first Christmas party at Stark Industries that she wore those pumps with an empire-waisted dress. It was on sale at Target, fit her well enough, and looked acceptable. A shoe enthusiast she may be (in between paying off her car, Pepper was making an effort to save for another pair - nude patent, just as appropriate), but Pepper did not care for clothing. Hypocritical or not, she could not justify spending more than $50 on any given article of clothing.

At the party she met Tony Stark. It was hard _not_ to meet the man, really. He was loud and flirtatious, and couldn't care less about anyone but himself. Pepper wrinkled her nose in disdain when they spoke, an unknown gesture, and he reached out a hand to smooth it out.

Pepper politely took her leave.

Tony hunted her down when they were next back at work. Pepper was punctual in her heels, the cheap pair from Payless, but Tony was sitting on her desk when she arrived. "Mister Stark." Pepper said, the surprise in her eyes belying the cool indifference in her tone. "Is there anything I could assist you with?"

"I do believe so." He said, before checking his watch. "You're due for a promotion." Pepper wasn't sure how he deduced that from glancing at his watch, but she shook her head.

"I had a review at the start of December." Pepper stated smoothly, beginning to arrange files around where Tony Stark sat. He made no indication that he was moving.

The man gave a long, drawn-out hum. "Well, I'm reviewing you now. Congratulations, you've done great." With a self-satisfied smirk, Tony offered her a hand.

"That's not how a review works." Pepper stated curtly, giving his hand two firm shakes before letting go.

Tony laughed. "This is how _my_ reviews work. You'll be working for me now." And again, he checked his watch, easily ignoring Pepper's momentary loss of composure.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I don't understand - working for you? I do already." Pepper rambled, a poor tendency she had when confused, trying to work through the situation aloud.

Tony pushed away from her desk just as the door opened. A man stood in the entrance, car keys in hand. "You'll clear out your desk tonight. Happy will get you at nine am." Tony waved one hand vaguely at the man beside him, who held up his own hand and offered Pepper a supportive smile.

"I don't know if that - you don't even know where I _live_." Worry lines creased her brow as Pepper stood there, uselessly waving about recruitment forms.

"I have my ways." Tony said, disappearing into the hall with a "see you tomorrow, Miss Potts!" echoing in his wake.

That night Pepper put the Louboutin's to the back of her closet, tucked safely in the original box and tissue paper they'd come in. Her good luck shoes had just lost their luck. She'd just wear the Payless to work. Maybe they would restore her shoe karma, or whatever had doomed her to working with Tony Stark.

–––

It took a few weeks of working for Tony Stark for Pepper to fall into something remotely recognisable as a relationship with the man. He was impossible - he wouldn't attend any meetings unless she dragged him out the door and bribed him with a stop at Burger King on the way. He did not run normal business hours - Tony would awaken sometimes in the late afternoon and work through the night in his underground workshop. He was prone to locking Pepper out of said workshop if he was working on something important, leaving the oblivious woman punching in her code over and over into the door and watching _DECLINED_ appear in red letters each time. He was cocky to a fault and thought that he was God's gift to women. Pepper didn't think she'd ever put up with so much flirting in her life, and she'd been to a number of Frat parties in her life. Sober, yes, but that didn't mean her suitors were not. Pepper liked to think she was attractive normally, but alcohol had a way of enhancing that _and_ loosening ones lips up.

So, in short, Tony Stark was a Frat boy in the position of a responsible adult. He lived fast and drove even faster cars.

But he paid well, and he had a compassionate side. Whenever he made coffee (ordered his AI to make coffee), he would ask if she'd like some too (get Jarvis to ask her over the intercom if she did). Tony would always pay for her meals, even if they were just drive-thru burgers with more calories in one meal than Pepper typically ate in a day. Clearly he wasn't used to working with a woman who sought to assist and befriend him rather than fuck him and sell out.

Selling out offered instant gratification - something, Pepper thought dryly, Mister Stark could easily relate to - whereas working for him regularly held better pay-offs in the long term. With her first few pay cheques, Pepper took herself shopping. She invested in several high-quality suits, and a number of blouses to suit them. On top of that she bought some nicer shoes - not big brand name, but they were made with leather and were far more comfortable than her Payless shoes.

There were a pair on the shelf that caught her eye. They were black leather, though had a small set of spiked studs set on the heel. These shoes were not Pepper's usual fare. They were intriguing and exciting, and under the leg of a proper suit, no one would notice the somewhat _inappropriate_ detailing. Pepper tried them on, did a twirl in front of the mirror, and added those to her pile.

Pepper wore them several times without Tony noticing. If he found out, she would not hear the end of it. One time she had worn a blouse where he had glimpsed the top of her breast when she bent over and he'd spent the day throwing things on the floor to try and get her to bend over and recreate the experience. It had taken her five pens and a handful of papers to figure out his plan, and she'd stormed out.

Now it felt like she held something over him. Like she was teasing him with this very special thing that she had, that only she knew about. Some women did that with their underwear - Pepper knew several ladies who wore expensive lingerie beneath their work clothes, feeling stealthily sexy. This was a similar thing, only Pepper's secret indulgence was shoes, not underwear. It made it a far more risky endeavour - hiding from someone your shoes was tougher than a bra or panties.

Soon after falling under Tony Stark's employ, Pepper had begun shadowing him to meetings. He didn't take notes, and Pepper discovered she should know what happened in said meetings so she could ensure Tony acted upon what he said he would. That, or she could go into damage control mode.

Today she sat opposite the playboy, who was playing around on his phone with his tongue bulging his cheek out. The head of security was reporting on suspicious persons lingering by the building, potentially spies from other companies seeking to copy Stark Industries plans. Tony knocked his pen on the floor and proceeded to duck under the table. He tried to make it subtle, but every eye turned to him.

Every eye except Pepper's. She sighed quietly, and continued to make notes as the man at the head of the table tried to continue on despite the distraction.

Tony took a few moments to find his pen and reappeared looking very proud of himself, setting down the as-yet unused writing implement and picking up his phone once more. It took a few seconds for him to finish what he was doing there, and then he sat his hands on the table, looking quite smug.

Pepper's phone vibrated once in her pocket. Tony looked at her with a sweet smile, though Pepper knew better by now than to trust it. She pulled her Blackberry discretely from her pocket and checked the message there.

_I love it when you wear stripper heels to meetings. It's so kinky._

Pepper took a second to read the message, and then re-read it. She bit down lightly on her tongue to keep from saying anything inappropriate, before replying just as quickly.

_If your idea of kinky is being castrated by a stiletto, you may be in luck._

Tony did not bother excusing himself as he chuckled in place, and the meeting was adjourned early. Pepper directed Happy to take her to her home, where she changed into a set of plain black heels. She should have known trying to hold something over Tony Stark wouldn't work. Perhaps she would keep her future fun to lingerie.

–––

After spending some time on the sort of salary a woman working for Tony Stark received (no surprise that it was larger than what a male personal assistant would have made), Pepper could afford nice things whenever she wanted. Pepper wasted no time putting that money to good use - she put a down payment on an apartment in Malibu, near Tony's mansion, and then another on a house in the surrounds of New York. An investment property - just in case Stark Industries ever went down, or she lost her job for some reason. Pepper was not going to rely on her boss to keep food on her table forever.

If Tony Stark embodied one thing, it was a short attention span.

He flicked from woman to woman as he did television channels, and Pepper knew for a fact that he couldn't sit down through a whole half an hour episode of _anything_. Including pornography, which was a detail Pepper would have been better off _not_ knowing about him. _"I prefer to take matters into my own hands, Miss Potts."_ He had said archly when she caught him in his room doing things she vowed never to speak of again.

The thing with money was it bought good quality items. Certainly, you paid a lot for the brand name, but when it came down to it Pepper's money went to a well-built item. Her shoes could withstand almost anything. She'd even fallen over in her more luxurious heels once or twice, but that had been due to terrain and not a lack of skill on her part. If Pepper Potts did something, it was to the absolute best of her ability.

Pepper was already at Tony's home, despite it only being eight in the morning. He'd just set out that past night on a weapons demonstration overseas, and Pepper hadn't been there to see him off. She was just at the house to collect some work he had said he'd have signed and ready for her, but Pepper found it not to be so. Though it was not appropriate, Jarvis was capable of scanning in and forging Tony's signature on each sheet of paper. With, Tony was smug to say it, appropriate variations and smudges as any human would do.

Her phone rang as Pepper began to descend into Tony's workshop, where the bulk of Jarvis existed. She picked up her phone in one hand, the other gripping the unsigned (and most likely unread) documents. "Yes?" Pepper had two ring-tones in her phone - one for personal calls, such as those from friends, and then one for work and unknown numbers. This ring-tone was for personal calls, which is why she did not opt for her usual, professional greeting.

"_Pepper?"_ Rhodey asked - his was a personal number, as he was a friend of Tony's (and Pepper's, by extension), and she knew not to ignore his calls. On rare occasions Pepper would turn her business calls straight to voicemail, but she couldn't afford to miss one from someone like James or Obadiah. Or Tony, as much as she sometimes wished she could. If anything went wrong, one man of the three would be in touch with her.

"How did your day go?" She went to ask, conversationally, wondering if Tony had made a fool of himself somehow, though was cut off by a sudden stream of talking.

All she could hear was a rabble of disjointed sentences - and the only message that got through was Tony was missing. Possibly _dead_. Pepper stepped forward on shaky legs, meaning to go get the work done as something to distract her mind from the man on the line explaining to her just what had happened to her boss. _"Pepper, I'm so sorry - we didn't know - we're getting men out there now, I'll be heading out soon myself. I don't want to say dead -"_

Her heel caught the step, where her foot meant to land below it. In one easy movement, Pepper had broken the stiletto clean off, and fallen the final few steps to the landing. As no one spent the money on Jimmy Choo's with the intention of snapping the heel off as experimentation, one could say that they are very well-made shoes. They did not break simply. _"- no use jumping to conclusions but i just want to prepare you, okay?"_

Somehow the destruction of her thousand dollar footwear meant nothing. Pepper sat against the wall, not able to form words to assure the panicked Colonel she was okay. _"Pepper? Are you still there? Is everything okay?" _All her strength went into turning the phone off, and then it fell to the ground at her side.

Pepper cried.

Her ankle was swollen and sore, but that hurt paled into comparison to the sudden gaping hole in her chest that screamed _lost_.

–––

Following the stripper heels incident (Pepper still maintained they were nice shoes), she cut out anything _remotely_ resembling footwear worn by women of the night. Not that Pepper personally held anything against them, but she knew that Tony would very much like to hold _many_ things against them, and that meant that they were off the list.

When it came to cold winter days, Pepper opted for boots. She couldn't get around in anything with less than a four-inch heel (her feet had just _moulded_ that way over the years) and so heeled boots were on the agenda. Wedges were the safest bet - classy, and didn't look at all like they would be worn by a prostitute.

Tony pressed her luck with a black leather pair she'd bought on a business trip in Italy. They had gorgeous stiletto heels and hugged her calves as if they were made just for her. An exception to her new wedges rule. She was a heel girl at heart - she just _couldn't_ go past a good pair. "Tony." Pepper had said, standing over his legs as he worked beneath one of his expensive cars.

There was no response.

"Tony." Some shuffling, the sound of metal hitting the floor, but still no verbal acknowledgement. "Mister Stark, I have a conference call upstairs, get out from there."

"Pepper?" The unseen figure said at last, legs scooting him from beneath the body of the car. "Here I was thinking you'd _finally_ indulged in my prostitute in the workshop fantasy. But what you're saying kinda ruins the mood, don't you think?" He ran a greasy sleeve across his forehead, making more mess than he was cleaning up, before jogging off to attend to the call upstairs. Pepper liked to think it was her glare that sent him running, because Tony Stark discovering his work ethic beneath his new Carrera GT seemed most unlikely.

But it wasn't this incident that had the fine leather boots thrown in the trash. Pepper drew herself up with resolve, commanding Jarvis to turn one of the computer screens in the room into a mirror. She admired her figure in the mirror - in a respectable pencil skirt and nice blouse, Pepper looked every bit the consummate professional she was. The skirt was low enough to maintain modesty, and the only flesh visible above her boots was stocking-clad.

No, Pepper Potts decided, she was not a prostitute. She was a respected woman, professional and presentable. Tony Stark would not see her toss out another pair of expensive shoes, even if his frequent bonuses (tax write-offs, as he would say) could easily supply her with a thousand new pairs. She would continue to wear her shoes because she liked them, and _damn it_, that was all that mattered.

She wore them that night, in fact, to a charity ball at which Tony was one of the main benefactors. Pepper arrived just in time to catch him giving his speech, before retreating to the bar to get very, _very_ drunk.

"Tony, I think that's enough." Pepper said when she reached his side, having battled past reporters and curious stockholders. Tony Stark was a tight-lipped man, and would usually only engage in discussions with those possessing... looser morals. Everyone preyed on Pepper, trying to get words out of her, when the woman wanted nothing more than to fulfill her task as personal assistant - namely, keep her employer alive.

At the rate he was downing drinks, it was starting to become a necessity that she step in.

"I would beg to differ." Tony answered with drunken eloquence. _Only Tony Stark_, Pepper thought dryly to herself.

"No more, Mister Stark." Pepper said, plucking the glass of scotch from his hand and linking arms with the man, putting her body between him and the alcohol.

"Let me finish that one, Miss Potts." Tony said, lurching across her body to make a snatch at the glass. "And then I promise you can _escort_ me where you like." He added with a smirk that Pepper ignored.

Compromise was key with Tony. She could never really force him into things - it was a constant battle of give and take between them. Tony liked that game, and Pepper liked getting results, so they could usually find a way to make things work.

With a sigh, Pepper handed over the drink. Tony all but inhaled it, the spirit disappearing from the glass in one mouthful. "Happy?" Tony asked, placing the drink on the tray of a waiter who was passing them by.

"Ecstatic." Pepper said, flat-toned, as Tony left the party on her arm.

It would seem that, whilst one more was key to getting Tony to leave, it was also the key to his downfall. Pepper said nothing to his silence throughout the trip, sorting out what meetings she would have to cancel to work around his morning after. When the car finally stopped, she got out, but Tony did not.

"Come on." Pepper said, holding open the door for the man, who appeared lost in his thoughts.

Tony did not even manage it to his feet before the final scotch - and every other drink he'd ingested that night - ended up on Pepper's shoes. Her expensive, one-of-a-kind, leather shoes. From Italy. Now covered in regurgitated alcohol.

Pepper almost slapped him then and there. As it was she locked him out of the house and instructed Happy to leave, taking some measure of comfort in knowing the man suffered through the night. Or most of the night - Pepper had a heart, and dragged him in just past four.

In the morning, Tony apologised for ruining her shoes. He offered to pay to have exact replicas made from more expensive materials than the originals themselves. He had claimed that - in his own words, no less - he was quite amused by the prospect of going out with Pepper and people assuming she was a high-class escort.

Even hungover, he was insufferable. Pepper threw her still dirty shoes at his face and stormed out.

–––

The most expensive shoes Pepper ever wore belonged to Tony Stark. They held more than just monetary worth - they were tools to save lives and help better the world. It was the first and only time Pepper would wear the Iron Man boots. Just the boots alone, not the rest of the suit. Tony had been adamant about teaching Pepper to fly, and they had negotiated that he would sit through five meetings if Pepper just gave it a shot.

She stood there in the clunky, flat boots, wriggling her toes in the spacious confines. "Ready, Miss Potts?" Tony asked, wires extending from his arc reactor to power the repulsor boots she wore.

"Not at all." Pepper was clearly not impressed by what she was being asked to do. She was the sort of girl to soar in five-inch heels, not in the boots of a self-made superhero.

Tony laughed loud. "Wonderful. Jarvis?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Engage, please." Tony said, stepping close enough that he could ghost his fingers along the edges of Pepper's body. "I'm always gentle the first time." He said to Pepper, as if it would help calm her nerves. Coupled with that sly smirk and wink, it set them alight with the urge to both slap and kiss him.

That was an emerging urge Pepper was quite determined to stamp out. At least in this situation her flush could stem from pure terror, because she was rising slowly into the air. It was not a steady journey. There was a reason Tony used the repulsors in his palms to stabilise himself - the boots alone made for a very wobbly trip.

Like a man flying a kite, Tony followed Pepper around the workroom as she moved. "I'm done now." Pepper called after she had lurched back the first time, the end of her sentence cut off by a sudden shriek. "Tony! That's it!" She continued to cry over the amused sound of laughter coming from below. "Jarvis! Stop it!"

"I apologise, Miss Potts, but Mister Stark has ordered I defer only to his word in this matter."

Pepper tried to kick out at Tony, which sent her tipping backwards again. "For the love of God, Tony, _stop it_." Pepper screamed. She was so loud in her protests, in fact, that she didn't hear Tony give Jarvis the order to stop the experiment. The sudden lack of movement had Pepper on the verge of tears (as if she hadn't been there since she first left the ground), grasping at the empty air as she fell into waiting arms.

Her eyes were wide - borderline hysterical, really - and Tony just looked smugly down at her. "Have fun?" He asked, and whilst Pepper tried to regain her breath and her composure, he kissed her.

It really didn't help. As soon as Tony placed Pepper on the ground her knees buckled (to this day she maintains it was the flight not the kiss that did it, but Tony's ego liked to think otherwise), and he had to physically hold her up. "Never again." Pepper chanted like a mantra as the robots helped pull the boots from her body. "Never, never, _never_ again."

"That had best be about the flying and not the kissing." Tony observed, hands still glued to her waist for support, even as Pepper stood in front of him barefoot.

"Both." Pepper said, her mind trying to process so much experience in such quick succession. "I just - I can't-" Pepper said, clenching and unclenching her fists in the air to try and regain some sense.

Tony shifted one hand from her waist to cradle the back of her neck and kissed her again, taking what little breath she had gotten back once more. "Sure I can't change your mind?" He asked with a winning smirk.

Pepper met his eyes. There was no shame there, not even any concern. Tony Stark didn't _get_ rejected - that was the thing. Pepper couldn't even tell if he was being sincere, or just taking advantage of her terrifying experience. It could really be either - and it was probably more the latter, based on his track record."The next ten meetings and five video conferences." Pepper said at last, voice not nearly stable enough to be making demands as she did.

"Deal." A businessman at his core, Tony made the most of the compromise they had reached, making damned sure he would change Pepper's mind.

And he did, but not on the boots.

**–––**

**author's notes: **some pepperony to break up my faberry posting recently. i love this pairing so much, and i hope you guys enjoyed it. :)


End file.
